A few years ago, I asked a young-ish band director if she would be attending the ISW coming up later that month. She responded, “No, the sessions don’t really teach me anything new. I do like seeing my friends, but I’m not sure if I would get much out of it anymore.” I quietly let her speak about not learning anything new, and then I suggested that there are different reasons for attending the ISW and that it often depends on where you are in your career and where you see yourself heading down the road.
For those who are just starting their music education careers, the benefits are endless. Despite the undergraduate coursework and experience you graduated with, the educational clinics at the KMEA ISW are the best opportunity to learn from experienced educators from around the state and across the country about topics that are pertinent to you and relevant to your programs. You’ll hear new ideas, learn new approaches, and see new resources that may just give you a hand up in working with a particular problem student, class, or subject area. Will it radically change the way you teach or show you a guaranteed path to success? Maybe not, but if you can glean one or two ideas to try from every session you attend, that seems pretty radical to me. Every attendee I come across at the ISW is there to improve their teaching and be even more of an inspiration to their students. The education sessions are the best way to make this happen and it warms my heart to see teachers with 30+ years of experience attending clinics alongside first-year teachers.
Speaking of inspiration, many educators attend the ISW to hear the great performances in the concert halls. To recognize, support, and celebrate the work of your peers can be a way of re-charging your batteries. Concert attendance is a resource for hearing new literature as well as tried and true standards. It can help remind some why they became music educators in the first place and for some, listening to a top-notch performance group will plant a seed and set a path for their own groups to achieve the honor of performing at KMEA.
As music teachers move further and further along in their experience, I see them using the KMEA ISW as a means of networking within their “tribe”. Seeing old friends in the exhibit hall, attending an affiliate organization breakfast, or a college night reception may seem like purely social affairs, but I personally put a great deal of stock in the information exchanged while having an actual conversation with someone, and this experience is only possible at the ISW. Feeling a true connection to your peers is a worthwhile endeavor and one of the best ways to prevent isolation and burn-out. This might be the best reason to attend, yet the hardest to explain to an administrator. It can just be our little secret.
May I put in a good word for the exhibit hall at this point? There is much to be learned as you visit with vendors and peruse their materials. Many of the vendors are experienced teachers and therefore have a great deal of insight regarding your needs and how they can help you. Exhibitors at the ISW have invested significant dollars in their booth rental fees, travel and lodging expenses, and stock of education-related inventory and programs in order to offer you a chance to see the latest and greatest products and ideas. Fund-raising and festival event vendors are there, as well, dispensing information to extend your program’s reach beyond your school. Colleges and universities are there to provide you and your students with musical opportunities after high school. Manufacturers and retailers hope you’ll stop by, chat, and spend some time discussing your program needs and wants. In particular, your Kansas Music Merchants Association members hope you’ll remember their support of the ISW in your school purchases and “Keep it in Kansas”!
Finally, the KMEA ISW gives educators a chance to be mentors to others. I’ve yet to find a music educator who says no to the opportunity to help a new teacher find their footing. Experienced educators give of themselves in presenting sessions or becoming active in the KMEA organization itself and helping to make the ISW the excellent experience it is. Many become part of the KMEA mentoring program. Just being willing to introduce yourself to those first year teachers wearing the new green badge ribbons can mean a lot in creating a connectedness within the organization and “giving back” to the profession.
To summarize, education, re-energizing, networking, and mentorship are some of the valuable professional development reasons to attend the KMEA ISW. Some may have more weight for you in some years than others, but the great thing about those three days in February is that you get to experience all of them. I’ll see you at the KMEA In-Service Workshop!!
Lori Supinie
Kansas Music Merchants Association
